The Top 100 Project

If you are what you choose to podcast, then we choose to say a lot of nice things about Brad Bird's debut cartoon. As wonderful as the animation and the voicework are and as touching and emotional as the story is, The Iron Giant somehow failed at the box office. Maybe it wasn't funny or fun enough for people who were used to Disney style 'toons? Maybe it was too reliant on reminding us of other classics like E.T., Superman and Terminator 2? It also sets its scene in the '50s with a major theme of Cold War paranoia, which is heady stuff for kids. We applaud how mature The Iron Giant (usually) is though. One thing that's impossible to find fault with are the voice actors, led by young Eli Marienthal as Hogarth and Vin Diesel, who's perfectly cast as metallic voice of the Giant. In any case, our 602nd episode will do many things---including teach you a few facts about Maine---as we evaluate the goods and the greats about Bird's Iron Giant. Well, Actually: Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman are in fact tied